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Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Swedish Elections; probably the best elections in the world

Thursday April 9th 2015, 6pm

Speaker: Kristina Lemon from the Swedish Elections Authority

Chair: Lesley Riddoch,broadcaster & writer

Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SR

The UK is gearing up for a General Election with the probability of a 50-60 per cent turnout and a hung parliament. The last General Election in Sweden, also produced no single party with a working majority. Swedes have used PR since 1909 and coalition government is normal. So is last year’s turnout of 85.8% – higher even than Scotland’s record breaking referendum. The turnout for the last council elections was 38% in Scotland but 82% in Sweden.

How do the Swedes do it? Elections are on a Sunday. All elections (for municipal and county councils and general elections) take place on the same day -- the second Sunday of September every four years. So councils benefit from the General Election buzz. Voters can vote 18 days before polling day, and change their vote on election-day itself. Anyone can form a party, even quite late in the process. Voters don’t have to register – the Swedish Election Authority simply extracts information from the central population register.

The Swedish system aims to give parties a number of seats proportional to its support among voters. Even TV and radio coverage is different – debates with 7 party leaders are entirely unremarkable. It’s all scrupulously fair – what do you expect from the first country in the world to introduce freedom of the press, in 1766?

Could Scottish democracy learn from a system like this? Kristina Lemon of the Swedish Election Authority will describe how the Swedish electoral system works.

Please note the new venue for this event and you can book your place through Eventbrite here.